Pilotage US Tax & Accounting

What do Americans in Switzerland need to know about US tax compliance? As an American expat, you may have heard about US tax compliance laws like FATCA but you may not know what impact these tax laws have on you as an American abroad and what compliance with them is...

What You Need To Know About Paying US Taxes While Living In Switzerland Living in Switzerland is a fantastic experience but if you’re one of the 40,000 Americans living in Switzerland, there are some important things you need to know about paying the US taxes...

The potential implications of an inaccurate or late-filed FBAR are much worse than for an income tax return. The IRS reserves the right to impose a penalty of $10,000 for simply filing the FBAR late. We often find that clients forget to list 3rd pillar...

We commonly discover that our clients own non-U.S. investment funds – such as Swiss “Fonds” and other foreign-issued funds (ETF, SICAV and the like) – in their custodial, 3rd Pillar, or pension holding (Freizügigkeitskonto) account. For U.S tax purposes such funds are...

Additional contributions to your Swiss 2nd and 3rd Pillar pension accounts may lower your current Swiss tax burden and increase your retirement savings, however, you cannot deduct these contributions from your U.S. taxable income. Being subject to U.S. taxes in...

It comes as a surprise to many Americans living abroad that their children are likely also U.S. citizens, even if those children have never been to the U.S. or acquired a U.S. passport or social security number. The rule is this: if your child was born after November...

Ensure your tax and reporting obligations are met before expatriating. To complete your final expatriation tax return you must certify to the IRS that you have complied with all of your tax reporting obligations for the previous five years. If you have been filing tax...

If you are married to a non-American and/or have a child with U.S. citizenship you may be able to choose between several filing statuses and claim them as dependents, optimizing your U.S. tax rate and increasing your deductions. Many tax preparers are completely...

As of tax year 2017, any non-U.S. person that wholly owns an LLC will likely be required to file Form 5472 to report their ownership and certain financial transactions with the LLC. This rule has been instituted, in part, to enhance U.S. compliance with international...